SALA festival: a month of art in Adelaide

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A guest post by Serena Wong from SALA

August is the month of the biggest visual arts festival in the world, the South Australian Living Arts festival (SALA). Running from 2-25 August, with over 500 exhibitions and events and almost 5,000 participating artists, this festival is truly a celebration of South Australia’s strong arts culture. Every year SALA offers the chance for amateur, emerging and established artists to showcase their work in metro and rural areas.

SALA also offers an amazing chance for every Adelaidean, whether a connoisseur or dabbler, to enjoy the talent this state has to offer. It’s a great time to get out there and soak up some inspiration. Some of the venues are quite picturesque – think art swaying from grapevines at an Adelaide Hills winery.

If you are a South Australian artist and you’d like to showcase your work at bluethumb’s “Hills Hoist” SALA exhibition on August 25, email us now at help@bluethumb.com.au

Serena’s tips to help you make the most of SALA

Firstly, don’t try to see everything. There are literally hundreds of shows on during SALA! Instead, pick your favourites using the SALA website. You can search exhibitions by different categories, including medium, location, date and so much more. This means if you want to see a show featuring established artists, who make contemporary experimental work, exhibiting in the city, on Saturday before that lunch date, you can find it. Or, if you don’t have any prerequisites, just use the app to find the closest SALA venues to you. It might lead to a tucked-away spot you’ve never bothered to visit before. Call it a SALA adventure.

If you’re still not sure what you want to see, feel overwhelmed or confused, the best place to start is local. Your local council gallery, town hall or civic centre is probably hosting a SALA show. Check out your local café, bar, hairdresser, bookshop or fruit store, SALA is everywhere! If you need some hints on how to find out which places are SALA spots, visit the website, as there are maps for each region highlighting SALA venues.

Or if you truly want a hassle free, maximum fun, SALA experience, look for tours you can go on. You’ll find everything from baby friendly tours and collector’s tours to Indigenous art tours. Yelp have jumped on board and also organised a range of exciting tours, combining some of your favourite pastimes with some quality art viewing. Their Beer and Brushstrokes tour and the Coffee and Contemporary art tours have certainly caught my eye!

Speaking of favourite pastimes, Adelaide wineries are often SALA venues as well. Why not enjoy a tipple of your favourite red in the Barossa and take in some of the local artistic talent at the same time. Talk about making the most of your day.

Look out for Serena’s next blog on selected highlights of the SALA festival